Advice
by The-Napoleon-Of-Crime
Summary: Mac and Stella communicate via email when he finally comes clean about his complete devotion to a certain 'friend'. Set after Stella leaves.
1. Chapter 1

Title- Advice

Summary- Mac and Stella communicate via email when he finally comes clean about his complete devotion to a certain 'friend'. Set after Stella leaves.

Rating- T

* * *

_Stella,_

_I suppose writing an email isn't exactly the bravest thing I have ever done, but sometimes it helps to talk. That's what I ha__ve said so many times over the years, isn't it? It's best to talk. Confide. Let somebody take on board your problems. Well, sometimes it's not that easy. Sometimes you do want to explain; you want to scream at the top of your lungs and tell strangers in the street just to get things off your chest, but it rarely happens. _

_Who has the confidence to tell strangers, let alone the person they're actually besotted with, that they are in fact besotted? If a person out there exists who wouldn't be scared to walk straight up to the person they had fallen in love with and just out of the blue tell them of their love, then they are a far braver person than I. I am in love, Stell. _

_Yes, yes I know I have been in love before and it hasn't exactly gotten me far, but I am sure of this. I'm sure of the way I feel for her._

_We're friends, you see. Myself and the woman I have fallen for. Not best friends as such, but incredibly close all the same. And I have come to the conclusion that falling for a friend is a huge mistake when it comes to romance. Everybody always says "Oh, it would be lovely to fall in love with your best friend" and that is fine, but what happens when you have long passed the stage where there could possibly be more than friendship and are stuck dead in the everlasting pit of friendship? I love being her friend, don't get me wrong, but I don't just want to be her friend, Stell. _

_What's wrong with forging a relationship with somebody you already know so well? I personally think I should have a better chance than most, she has already accepted me as someone she cares for, why is it that I can't push for that extra mile? Because we're friends. Friends. Hugs and kisses on the cheek; I'm a friend. But I want to be a friend and a boyfriend, someone she can trust entirely and fall madly in love with. I do want her hugs and kisses on the cheek, is it too much to ask for to have passionate and loving kisses on the lips too? _

_She pops into my head on the oddest of occasions, you know. I can be at home, making dinner, at the office writing up a case or even out in the field and there she is, swimming around in my head and making me smile. I don't always smile though, I mostly end up mad with myself for letting her occupy my thoughts again. After all, I'm sure I don't enter her thoughts at random moments, why should she enter mine? _

_I don't even have to be doing something related to her; it's not as though I'll be reading a book she likes, or cooking a meal I think she would appreciate, I can be doing something completely and entirely unrelated, yet here she is again, possessing my mind! I hate thinking about her now, Stell. I feel total anger now because I know I'm her friend, I know that every time I fantasize about just grabbing her and kissing her next time I see her, nothing would come of it other than embarrassment, because I'm her 'friend'. _

_Besides, I don't really think I'm the sort of guy who could do the unexpected kissing business. I know it's considered romantic and I'd love to just grab her off guard and engage in the most mind blowing kiss, but that's not really me. I think I'd worry all the way up to that moment, which I feel is understandable. Has anybody tried the unexpected kiss and gotten rejected? I'm sure it will have happened and I don't want to go through that. I don't want the embarrassment of learning she doesn't feel the way I do. _

_So, what do I do, Stell? Do I risk my friendship with her in order to strive for something more? Or do I just continue to suffer wondering 'What if?' It's starting to drive me crazy, all of this wondering. It's what I think about before I fall asleep each night and usually causes me to fall asleep much later than I intended. _

_I know that you're busy and that we haven't spoken a great deal since you left, but you're one of the few people I trust, Stell, and you always seem to know what to do for the best. I know that if you can tell me to do something it should be severely considered, unless you tell me to go right ahead and talk to her, I think I might need a little convincing on that scale. Anyhow, it's late... three forty-five in the morning, if you want me to be exact, and I'm sure you're in bed and will get back to me when you get the chance. _

_I hope so, at least. If not to give me advice, then to say hello. I've missed us just talking, it seems wrong to not see you in my office anymore. I hope everything is going great for you though, don't doubt that for a second, Stell._

_I really am going to get some sleep now, there isn't enough coffee in the world to keep me awake if I stay up any later. Goodnight Stell, or Good Morning if you read this when you wake up. Either way, I hope to hear from you soon._

_All the best, Mac._

* * *

I feel I have neglected the Smacked fandom for a while now and decided to set things right. Not only was this a way to rediscover my love for the pairing, it was a way to settle things in my own head at the moment. Anyhow, I'll continue the fic as a series of emails and who knows? Anything can happen in the Smacked universe so I doubt this will stay as just emails. Thanks for reading!

- Napo.


	2. Correspondence

Title- Advice

Summary- Mac and Stella communicate via email when he finally comes clean about his complete devotion to a certain 'friend'. Set after Stella leaves.

Rating- T

* * *

Chapter 2- Correspondence

* * *

With a glass of red wine in hand, Stella sat down at her desk and dragged the cursor across the screen and doubled clicked on the little sign for her email account. Her latest case was coming together nicely so she had made the decision to have a glass of wine, a relaxing bath then have an early night, but not before checking her emails to see whether she had been sent anything important. It wasn't often that her team sent emails rather than calling her or texting her to update her on the happenings of a case, but she liked to cover all bases before she talked herself out of thinking about work.

Her eyes scanned the list of emails, ignoring most names that showed until the fourth sixth email down caught her eye. It had been sent the night before and the name showed as 'Mac Taylor' without a subject title in sight. Stella raised an eyebrow at the screen, quietly second guessing that Mac had really emailed her in the middle of the night rather than just calling.

But the more she considered it, the more sense it made. They had hardly spoken a lot as of late, both busy with running teams and different lab's, it made it so difficult to stay in touch when they both worked so hard and were often exhausted when they finally did get home. But the fact he had sent her an email intrigued her, she was incredibly pleased he had decided to get back in touch. But why?

After tapping on the email and spending a couple of minutes reading what Mac had written to her, Stella leaned back in her chair and took a particularly large drink of wine. Mac had fallen in love? Her initial emotion was shock, but when the contents of the email began to sink in, she had absolutely no idea why it should surprise her that he had fallen back in love. Mac was a wonderful man, Stella had known that for years and he deserved to be happy, she was happy for him.

Entirely happy, not the least bit jealous.

Jealous? Jealous of the fact that one lucky woman had managed to capture the heart of the man she had been entirely in love with for the passed couple of years? Certainly not.

Jealous that she showed absolutely no affection in return yet he still seemed to adore every aspect of her existence? Of course not. She was above all of that. Besides, now that she wasn't living in New York she was slowly falling out of love with Mac Taylor, or at least she had been making steps toward doing so.

After giving it some thought, Stella decided to write back to him rather than calling. He was obviously shy about his feelings otherwise he would have spoken about it over the phone, so she didn't want to put him on the spot, especially not at eleven o'clock at night. She dragged the cursor across the screen with one hand, the other having picked back up the now half empty glass, and began composing her response in the space provided.

_Mac,_

_First of all, I'm really sorry that we haven't gotten the chance to talk recently, I miss my best friend. Things have been so chaotic here, but chaotic in the best possible way. I love it here and the job is amazing, I'm getting passed those awkward first few stages and I've even been out for dinner and drinks with some of the team, just getting to know everybody, they have all been very welcoming. _

_Still, it's hard not to miss you all back at the Crime Lab, how is everybody doing? I hope my replacement has been keeping you on a tight leash, I can't have you slacking off because I'm not around anymore._

_But anyhow, onto this woman you were telling me about. She must be great if you have fallen for her, but it would have been nice to get a little more information on her… for starters, you could have given me her name! Come on Taylor, her first name is all I'm asking for, surely you can give me that? _

_To be honest with you, it sounds as though nothing I could suggest would make the slightest bit of difference when it comes to this woman, you sound completely head over heels for her and that's so good, Mac, really it is. I don't want you feeling bad about how you feel anymore, you shouldn't be feeling guilty for thinking about her or wanting to be with her, she's so lucky to have such a lovely man thinking all of this about her. She sounds perfect for you if she has caused this level of reaction, I think that you have to start listening more to your emotions._

_If you're so sure that you're in love with her, why aren't you doing anything about it? I know the thought of risking a friendship and getting rejected is terrifying, but if you care so much I think it's worth it. If nothing else, telling her will get things out in the open and you can stop obsessing over What If. If it turns out that she feels the same then you're golden, if not, yes you'll be hurt but you can start to move on. Tell her Mac, otherwise you're going to drive yourself crazy over all of this._

_You're hardly a lost cause when it comes to love, Mac. She should count herself lucky, I'm sure a lot of women would kill for the chance to date Mac Taylor! That would make an interesting case, hm? Alright maybe not, but you know what I mean. You're a real catch, I see no reason why she wouldn't jump at the chance to date you, especially if you're friends already._

_Think about it and reply when you can, if you do tell her I want to hear all about it, alright! _

_Oh, and these late night writing adventurous can be stopped Taylor, I want you to start getting a good night's sleep, I know you think that staying up all hours will help but it won't. Actually, ignore the time this email is going to be sent to you, it's absolutely not the same and you can't convince me that I'm just as bad. I'm going to have a nice bath and go straight to bed once I've signed off this email, actually._

_Speak soon Mac, tell the team I say hello and I'll hopefully get a chance to come and see you all for a little while soon._

_Goodnight,_

_Stella. _

* * *

I realise Stella's response was a lot shorter than Mac's email, but that won't always be the case. I believe a few more chapters are set to finish off this story and hopefully please all of you loyal Smacked lovers.

Glad to know there are still some Smacked shippers among us, thank you for reading and if you can, drop me a a little review to stop my sobbing over the lack of Stella on the show now. Thanks guys!

- Napo.


	3. Your Opinion, Please

Title- Advice

Summary- Mac and Stella communicate via email when he finally comes clean about his complete devotion to a certain 'friend'. Set after Stella leaves.

Rating- T

Chapter 3- Your Opinion, Please

* * *

_Come on Taylor, her first name is all I__'__m asking for, surely you can give me that? _

Mac sighed. He reached forward, his fingers idly skimming the keyboard before he rested his hands back on the arms of his desk chair and read over the line once again. She wanted the name of the woman in question, of course she did. It was just like Stella to push him for more details, that was no doubt the detective in her coming through. He certainly wasn't going to be telling her the truth of the matter; that was something he had easily decided on upon first coming across the request.

He couldn't just tell her the truth about who the woman was; it would be far too awkward and he knew that it wouldn't do him any favours. But lie to her? He didn't like the thought of lying to Stella, over the years they had always tried to be totally honest with each other and he knew that lying was something that Stella simply did not tolerate.

But, he was lying for a good reason. He wasn't hurting her with a lie, just shielding her a little from finding out the truth until he was good and ready. Although, from her response, Mac doubted that he ever would be ready. She had done everything she could in her email to urge him to tell the woman he liked the truth; if she was so interested in him dating someone else then she obviously wasn't interested in dating him. He hadn't expected to feel so low after hearing from her and he certainly hadn't expected to have been alternating between a blank reply screen and her response for over twenty minutes.

Mac leaned forward toward his laptop and rubbed his temples lightly, then clicked back onto his own reply and stared for a few moments longer. He had written nothing; not even small talk before getting onto the real topic of conversation, he supposed there really was no point of being honest if she didn't feel the same way about him.

She hadn't even tried to get him to hold off on telling the woman, just proving that she certainly wouldn't care if he became unavailable, but he knew that he couldn't be petty about this. Just because she didn't feel the same way didn't mean he shouldn't continue their correspondence, perhaps he could use their talking to his own advantage and find out about the sort of things she liked. If she didn't feel anything for him other than friendship now, he could use her own advice to convince her otherwise.

_Hey Stell,_

_It's good to hear that you're enjoying your time over there, I can't say that we don't miss you back home but as long as you're doing well and getting along well with your colleagues then I'm happy. They're very lucky to have you working with them, but I'm sure they have worked that out already. Everyone is fine here, you have nothing to worry about, things are going well, well, with the exception of all of the dead bodies. You aren't missing a great deal, much of the same really but it would be nice if you could come and visit when you have some spare time, the team would be more than happy to have an excuse to go out for a few drinks and get something to eat, Danny and Don especially. _

_You certainly know how to boost my ego! But no, don't get too excited, I haven't told her and I don't think that I'm going to. Earlier today something happened and she made it pretty clear that she felt nothing for me. We were walking together and some guy mistook us for a couple; she was quick to laugh that off and correct him, a little too quick for my liking. But I do understand everything you were telling me; admitting my feelings to her would be the best thing to do, I agree, but after thinking about our friendship I realise that I just couldn't risk her seeing me differently. _

_We have so much history and I wouldn't want to make things awkward between us, I think her feeling uncomfortable and knowing I had caused it would just make me feel worse. But if she ever were to give me a sign that she could possibly feel the same I just might begin to consider telling her again, as long as I knew there was a chance I won't look foolish I would definitely take more steps towards taking your advice._

_It's probably a little odd to ask you and feel free to keep things to yourself, but how would you like a guy to tell you that he loved you? I keep thinking up all of these possible scenarios in my head and every time I find something wrong with each of them, I don't know what's wrong with me! I've been trying to think of something romantic, exciting, but nothing seems good enough, really. She deserves the best; I ought to think of a great way to tell her, to sweep her off her feet if I ever do decide to come out with it, so if it were you, what would be your ideal situation? Don't worry, I won't steal it, I might just borrow the odd idea and pass it off as my own._

_Thanks for talking to me about her, Stell. I certainly couldn't tell anyone else, I wouldn't even know where to start! But even though I still haven't told her, the fact you know is easing my worries a little bit, I feel far less constricted because I know I can talk to you and get at least some reassurance._

_Don't worry, I'm not making staying up until ridiculous hours an everyday thing, you just caught me at a bad moment is all and I think there is a chance the case I'm currently working on could come to an end soon, so I'm getting more sleep than I have done in quite a while, I wouldn't want you telling on me to Lindsey and getting me in trouble. _

_Anyway, reply when you get the chance, you know that I always look forward to hearing from you._

_Goodnight, _

_Mac._

A few clicks and a little bit of scrolling was all he needed in order to read over what he had written, making sure that he wasn't sounding too desperate. When he was finally sure of the email, he hit the 'Send' button and relaxed back in his chair.

He hadn't lied to hear; he wouldn't steal her idea of the perfect way to be told she had captured someone's heart and use it on his dream woman. That absolutely would be cheating. But, Mac thought, taking the idea and making some minor adjustments was entirely acceptable, right?

* * *

AN/

Seriously, it's nice to have such sweet reviews and I'm so happy to learn that I'm not alone in my obsession with the ship. Keep them coming and you'll prettty much make my month.

Perhaps make some suggestions? In Stella's situation, what would be the ideal way to be told that somebody was in love with you? And I'll probably end up using one, if not combining a couple.

Stella's response will be uploded very shortly.

Thanks for reading my lovelies,

- Napo.


	4. What Women Want

Title- Advice

Summary- Mac and Stella communicate via email when he finally comes clean about his complete devotion to a certain 'friend'. Set after Stella leaves.

Rating- T

* * *

Chapter 4- What Women Want

* * *

_Mac,_

_I somehow managed to get a few hours this morning to myself before I need to go in to work so I thought I'd use this time to respond. The passed couple of days have been so hectic and I haven't had the chance to reply, I hope you didn't think I had forgotten or was ignoring your email. Although, you got around my question easily Taylor, I still want to know her name! Or something, at least, if you're not going to tell me who she is I should at least get a little information._

_How about we make a little deal, Taylor?_

_I'll tell you what I think would be a nice way for a guy to tell me that he loves me and you tell me a bit about this woman you're so crazy about? I think that's fair considering I'm putting myself out there with my own thoughts, besides if I know more about her I might be able to give some better advice as to how you should proceed._

_Assuming you're going to keep this to yourself and make sure that Flack or somebody doesn't read it, because I'd never hear the end from it from Don, I'll give you my ideal scenario. I actually had to put a lot of thought in this, I was trying to think of how most women would respond in that kind of a situation. My answer might bore you a little bit, it's fairly normal, so if she's anything like me she won't want the sky writing or the big announcement, I'm afraid my ideas are a little minimalist. _

_Honestly? A simple gesture would suffice. I think if a guy took it upon himself to come to wherever I was to see me without needing to be asked, if he found out my favourite restaurant or even my favourite type of flower I would know he was someone special. A guy taking me to my favourite place as a surprise and telling me right there that he loved me would be good enough for me. Something simple would be so much better than a huge fuss. If you go out of your way to do something special for this woman it's going to show her that you really care, I don't really think she'll need to be told, although what girl doesn't want to hear those three words?_

_Then again, some women would want to you hire a page in a newspaper or write it out on a banner across the Starbucks window she passes every morning. I think I'd be more embarrassed than everything else! But I'm not the one you want to please here, so don't take my word as law. If you want to pay all that money for skywriting, take a zoomed in picture and let me know how she reacted, I'd always hope the best for you._

Stella took a few minutes to reread what she had written so far and make any changes. What she had counted as 'a lot of thought' really had ended up exactly that. After Frankie's awful stunt all those years ago, Stella felt she didn't need any more big _surprises _from men. All she really wanted was for a man to be truthful with her and to know that he really did love her. Which was what made Mac Taylor perfect, if only he had those sort of feelings for her.

She knew that Mac was a good man, she trusted him with her life. As much as she had never liked the thought of mixing friendship with relationships or work life with home life, she felt Mac would be the right man for her. He had his work in New York and that was separate from her work, the relationship would only be tested on the distance factor and Stella was sure that it wouldn't impact too much as long as they didn't let it.

Stella soon frowned as she remembered that she was meant to be forgetting about Mac Taylor in a romantic light. He had a woman in his sights which told her all she needed to know. Fantasising about him would only end in her heart break, so the CSI quickly got back to typing. Perhaps if Mac suddenly became unavailable it would help her to move on, even if that thought displeased Stella greatly.

_I really would like to come and see you all soon, I'll try my best to not leave it too long, although I can't promise it's not going to be a couple of months before I can come to New York, we're pretty busy over here so I'm called in at the worst moments even without a case. Besides, when I do get to come and see you, you and this woman might be an item, so I'd hopefully get to know her name then at least!_

_I'm also really glad that talking with me about this is making the situation a little easier, even if you're still not in the place you want to be with her, I hate to think that you aren't as happy as you could be at the moment._

_And as much as I love talking to you Mac, I'm sure that if you just gave me her phone number I could talk you up to her and have the situation sorted out much sooner, you know how persuasive I can be._

_I'm kidding, of course, I'd be finding out her entire life story and making sure she was good enough for you before I even considered pointing out that you're possibly marriage material. _

_You should just go for it, Mac, in all seriousness. You're never going to know what could happen if you don't take a risk, I don't want you looking back in years to come and viewing her as the one that got away. Besides, I'm only a phone call away if she rejects you and I have to spend all night telling you that she doesn't know a good thing when she has it. Not that I think she'll reject you, I'm sure you're just being over cautious._

With a small smile on her face, Stella grabbed her phone as the text noise buzzed and read the small message. She was being summoned to the lab, even though she was meant to have at least another hour to herself.

_I'll talk to you soon, Mac. Oh, and Lindsey is only a phone call away too, so make sure your sleeping pattern has improved in time for your reply, nobody wants a tired Mac Taylor wandering around the lab._

_Good luck,_

_Stella._

* * *

AN/

Thanks to you all for your suggestions, I've certainly been given a lot to think about if Mac ever manages to get up the nerve to admit the truth! And I decided to give Mac enough space to form his own thoughts from Stella's response, I didn't want to write anything solid for the moment.

Thanks for reading, the next chapter will be up soon! Promise.

- Napo.


End file.
